Internal combustion engines function by cylinder pressure that is generated by the expansion of the air mixture including nitrogen (⅘ of the air) caused by the fuel combining with the oxygen (⅕) of the air and igniting. This ignition generally produces heat causing the expansion of gasses and the nitrogen portion of the mixture remaining after the combustion. Proper mixture ignition and burning requires the flame propagation to be progressive providing a controlled pressure increase inside the cylinder to avoid destructive pressures that can damage the engine structure.
When seen on a pressure/volume diagram, this internal pressure at near top dead center of the piston in the cylinder is seen as a spike. This peak or spike then trails off as the piston descends in the cylinder expanding the total volume area containing the pressure, thereby lowering it. This progressive flame propagation requires a slower burning fuel which in the case of gasoline is described as the octane rating. In the case of diesel and jet type fuels, which have inherently low octane characteristics and which operate to ignite the fuel with pressure generated in the cylinder, instead of an igniter, a very heavy engine structure is required to accommodate the extreme forces of the “spike” occurring at the start of the combustion process of the in the cylinder. However, in the extreme pressures produced in engines employed in racing conditions (such as tractor pulling contests), such engines are seriously damaged, regardless of the costly heavy duty components employed in the engine to accommodate the pressures anticipated.
Additionally, the high combustion pressures and temperatures in all internal combustion engines conventionally cause air pollution through generation of nitrous oxide created by the ignition process of the fuel and oxygen. Subsequent to ignition, the Nox is exhausted to the atmosphere.
The device and method herein disclosed and described teaches a pressure spike modulator apparatus and method of employment thereof yielding highly improved modulation and control of the compression ratio of an internal combustion engine. It concurrently provides a means to vary the fuel employed to run such engines, enabling the use of lower octane fuels and even pressure ignited diesel fuel in internal combustion piston driven engines.
The device is engageable to existing engines by adapting it to engage in a conventional spark plug, fuel injector, or other port communicating into the cylinder. Or, it may be designed into the engine at manufacture with the device in communication with the cylinder through the cylinder head or wall surface. It is particularly suited to adapt existing gasoline engines to run on diesel, or to adapt piston driven airplane engines using aviation fuel known as “avagas” and having an octane rating of at least 100, to run on diesel, jet fuel, or similar lower octane rated gasoline or fuels thereby increasing the supply of fuels available to such engines.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement, of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
An object of this invention is the provision of a pressure spike modulating device and method that may be included in new internal combustion engines.
An additional object of this invention is the provision of the pressure spike modulation device and method which may be engaged to existing internal combustion engines.
Yet another object of this invention is the provision of the pressure spike modulation device adapted for engagement to aviation engines to allow their operation on diesel fuel, jet fuel, or diesel fuel.
Another object of this invention is to provide such a pressure spike modulation device that may be easily incorporated into current and future internal combustion engines and manufacturing techniques therefor.
An additional object of this invention is to provide such a pressure spike modulation device and method that will allow internal combustion engines to operate on a wide variety of fuels of varying octane or burn ratings, by providing an infinite adaption of the compression ratio in cylinders of internal combustion engines.
Yet an additional object of this invention is the prevention of pollution of the atmosphere by decreasing the formation of and exhaust of nitrous oxide in internal combustion engines.
These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of the construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.